Outlets
The term “outlet” herein denotes an electro-mechanical device, which facilitates easy, rapid connection and disconnection of external devices to and from wiring installed within a building. An outlet commonly has a fixed connection to the wiring, and permits the easy connection of external devices as desired, commonly by means of an integrated connector in a faceplate. The outlet is normally mechanically attached to, or mounted in, a wall. Non-limiting examples of common outlets include: telephone outlets for connecting telephones and related devices; CATV outlets for connecting television sets, VCR's, and the like; and electrical outlets for connecting power to electrical appliances. The term “wall” herein denotes any interior or exterior surface of a building, including, but not limited to, ceilings and floors, in addition to vertical walls.
LAN Environment
FIG. 1 shows a typical prior art LAN environment 10. Such a network commonly uses 10BaseT or 100BaseTX Ethernet IEEE802.3 interfaces and topology, and features a hub 11 as a concentrating device, into which all devices are connected. Devices are connected to the hub 11 by data connectors 14a, 14b, and 14c, which are housed within network outlets 15a, 15b, and 15c respectively. Connections to the hub 11 are via cables 13a, 13b, and 13c respectively. Data connectors 14a, 14b, and 14c may be, for example, type RJ-45 connectors; and cables 13a, 13b, and 13c may be, for example, Category 5 cabling. The data portion of network 10 uses data units (which may be computers) 7a, 7b, and 7c, which connect to network connectors 14a, 14b, and 14c via cables 16a, 16b, and 16c, respectively. A server 12 may also be connected to the hub 11, and can perform the external connection functionality, as well as other server functions as applied in the art.
Although FIG. 1 refers to the hub 11 as a concentrating device, it is to be understood that any type of device having multiple network interfaces and supporting a suitable connectivity can be used, non-limiting examples of which include shared hubs, switches (switched hubs), routers, and gateways. Hence, the term “hub” herein denotes any such device without limitation. Furthermore, network 10 can be any packet-based network, either in-building or distributed, such as a LAN or the Internet.
The topology of network 10 as shown in FIG. 1 incurs various maintenance difficulties. The wiring from the hub 11 to the data unit 7a, for example, includes wire 13a, connector 14a and wire 16a. Because these conductors are continuous, there is no easy way to distinguish a break or short-circuit in wire 13a from a break or short-circuit in wire 16a, nor from a break or short-circuit in connector 14a. Troubleshooting such failures requires disconnecting cables and inserting dedicated test equipment or making elaborate and thorough substitutions of components that are known to be functional. Such procedures are complicated, labor-intensive, time-consuming, and expensive. Furthermore, in the common case of an outlet to which no data unit is connected, there is no simple way to test the continuity of wiring from the hub to the outlet. In addition, in many cases it is necessary to test the LAN from a remote place (such as via the Internet) in cases where it is not possible to attach testing equipment to non-connected outlets.
Discussion of network management and example of network management system are part of U.S. Pat. No. 5,812,750 to Dev et al.
Home Networking
Most existing offices and some of the newly built buildings facilitate the network structure of network 10. However, implementing such a network in existing buildings typically requires installation of new wiring infrastructure. Such installation of new wiring may be impractical, expensive and hassle-oriented. As a result, many technologies (referred to as “no new wires” technologies) have been proposed in order to facilitate a LAN in a building without adding new wiring. Some of these techniques use existing wiring used also for other purposes such as telephone, electricity, cable television, and so forth. Doing so offers the advantage of being able to install such systems and networks without the additional and often substantial cost of installing separate wiring within the building. In order to facilitate multiple use of wiring within a building, specialized outlets are sometimes installed, which allow access to the wiring for multiple purposes. An example of home networking over coaxial cables using outlets is described in WO 02/065229 published 22 Aug., 2002 entitled: ‘Cableran Networking over Coaxial Cables’ to Cohen et al.
The use of such wiring for additional purposes creates a need for ways of easily determining the condition of the wiring and obtaining this information remotely.
Home networking using existing telephone lines will be described as an example.